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[imae]

[...]
- Standard control scheme that doesn't force a gamepad
[...]

Few games actually force GamePad use, but many are actually much better with it.

Of my favourite games...

Mario 3D World - i played 95% of it with pro controller, a few levels require gamepad
DK Tropical Freeze - I play 100% with pro controller
Mario Kart 8 - I play with pro controller, but with GamePad on stand next to me
Wonderful 101 - I play with pro controller
Mario Bros. U - play with pro controller
Pikmin 3 - I played with Wiimote & Nunchuk, using GamePad as map and for other functions
Zombi U - GamePad only but it's amazing for it, and there's no way I'd play without GamePad if it was even an option
Zelda WW HD - I played with GamePad because map + inventory functionality was great. Can be played with Pro Controller though.
Monster Hunter 3 U - I play 100% with pro controller

I was sceptical before purchasing a Wii U, but for games that use it well the GamePad is great imo. Displaying the map in games like AC and Batman just feels convenient for me.

In general use, the GamePad is much like a normal controller but you hold your hands further apart. I think a lot of people perceive the GamePad as a constant in the experience of playing a Wii U and that you frequently are forced to use the second screen while playing, but that's not the case.

 

[ChainsawFilms]

Erm, look up how well Nintendo IPs tend to sell.

Look at US and UK software charts. Multiplatforms dominate. As I've said, Nintendo sell games to Nintendo fans - I've a 3DS and WiiU sat next to me

 

[Nightengale]

Kind of? The Treehouse format resonated way more with people interested in E3 though)

Sony's one was practically just a repetition of what every other games media site were doing (IGN, Gamespot, Twitch, etc), but unfortunately, they don't exactly have a personality draw like Greg Miller, and none of the things they're doing makes them more watchable than other sites.

Gamespot, for one, did way better coverages for Freedom Wars and Guns Up! than their own stream. Polygon did First Light coverage better than Sony's own. Even Playstation Access did a better E3 daily overview. ( well, they have a better team imo )

 

[AcademicSaucer]

wii u wouldnt be saved tho, the wii owners are on smartphones now

 

[JLeack]

If the Wii U begins exploding with sales, I'll host a pizza party.

PIZZA PARRTAAYYY!

 

[schuelma]

There is no saving the Wii U, and 3rd party support is what it is- LEGO and NFC games.

But I think E3 was important because I believe it did a lot to reassure Wii U owners, Nintendo fans, and maybe the gaming press, that Nintendo is going to support the system and is not going away- which might pay dividends when they unveil the next console. Nintendo at the very least needs to make its hardcore fans feel that buying its system will not be a waste.

 

[Mistouze]

This year Nintendo actually did what it set out to do at the start of their Nintendo Direct initiative : deliver information directly to the consumers. And boy was it great to get 30-40 minutes of gameplay from games announced with commentary from good hosts and devs.

E3 2015 is going to be something else if Sony and Microsoft step up their game.

 

[prag16]

For me this E3 could have been renamed to Spaceworld 2014. After three days of treehouse I barely remembered any other other companys presentation.

Spoiler

Aside from no mans land and Witcher 3 of course. My Pc is ready.

This was my thought. The treehouse stuff was fantastic and made me pretty much forget anyone else was even at E3. So much for Nintendo "skipping E3".

 

[Coolwhip]

This year really turned me off crowd reactions. They seemed even more fake than usual this year... at least people whooping over no DRM last year was driven by like six months of crazy back-and-forth worries about the new consoles. This year EA had some lady with an incurable case of the YEAHS and Sony couldn't stop getting applause for any damn thing that fell outta their mouths.

Nintendo got a bit of crowd pop with the Invitational but man, that felt like a real crowd, one that could have gone into riot mode if something crazy had happened on stage lol

Nintendo has real crowds, or had

 

[Boss Man]

I agree, Nintendo is finally starting to deliver for Wii U. I was worried they'd just abandon it.

Still lacking a true "Mario U" type game, and missing a ton of opportunities with the gamepad (Pokemon RPG, a good ass Warioware game, etc) but I think the Wii U is still breathing at least.

 

[Kai Dracon]

For all that Nintendo is a company and has to answer to shareholders, I kinda get the impression that from their POV "there are levels of survival we are prepared to accept". They will settle for managing a lesser position very well. Rather than a more cliche corporate response like "fire everyone and sell off the games division and license all our IPs to someone else and bail the fuck out with a golden parachute".

IMO the best thing Nintendo can do right now is nurture the image that they are a leader in creating great content - even if the Wii U remains unappealing enough by itself to not win people over. If/when Nintendo does deploy a better positioned platform, the goal is for people will react with "wow, now here's a Nintendo platform I can get behind and finally get access to all those games."

I think this is where the constant goalpost shifting with Nintendo and "fresh IP" keeps getting it wrong. The reason why Nintendo needs to create new IP isn't to copy what's currently popular in the west with a single core console demographic. But rather because when they do put effort into creating new games, they're very, very good at it. Splatoon is a "minor" project; observe the immediate reaction it gets. Creating the image they are not stuck with a limited selection of mainline properties is not mutually exclusive with focusing on the kinds of games they're great at making. So many people advocate Nintendo "just make western games like I like" - would they even buy them if Nintendo did? That audience already seems saturated with content and spoiled for choice. On the other hand it's not uncommon to see "man, I really want some of those Nintendo games but I don't want to buy the system."

That seems the actual root of Nintendo's problems, ever since they screwed up with the N64 and lost real 3rd party support. And it is where the perennial calls for Nintendo to go 3rd party originate. But if Nintendo remains determined to not go 3rd party, their only choice is to create their own niche.

 

[sörine]

Look at US and UK software charts. Multiplatforms dominate. As I've said, Nintendo sell games to Nintendo fans - I've a 3DS and WiiU sat next to me

That's overly dismissive. Nintendo's one of the few software makers to really break into the mainstream consciousness with videogames, and virtually the only one manage it repeatedly for over 3 decades now. Wii U is struggling for sure and 3DS is sort stalled but your statement is still incredibly inaccurate. Nintendo sells games to everyone.

 

[Ramenman]

I can't believe how prevalent his Nintendo fanboy reasoning is. Of course sales matter! Game development is more costly than ever before. Compared to previous gens (Gamecube/Wii) Nintendo now has to sell more at least twice as many copies of all of their games to break even and they have to do this on their worst selling console ever. Don't you see the problem there? Nintendo can't keep funding high budget games if they don't make a profit.

This is all very true, but it doesn't mean everyone has to care.

When I decide whether or not I buy a console, I look at the games there are, are there enough of them, do I want them enough, related to the price of the thing, etc.

Nintendo finally showed stuff that made me consider to buy a Wii U down the line (probably in a year or so). I don't really care how much money they make, or if they make any. I'm not trying to help them run a business, I'll just be happy to buy products I like.

So I don't think people should get riled up when others say that they don't really care if all those games turn into hardware sales.

I buy a console once I'm sure it's become interesting to me (ie has enough games I want), not day one to live the following years in the hope that it sells buckets and gets good support or whatever.

 

[Sendou]

Really tired of this attitude. It's basically a round-about way to dismiss conversation involving the Wii U's viability to get back into the race with PS4/Xbone. You should absolutely care about how the Wii U is selling if you want people to buy it thus getting more third party publishers to take interest and justify putting titles on it outside of Nintendo's output. Of course they are going to support it with software.

Not at all. The thing is that I (and I know I'm not alone. In fact I think I'm with majority here) bought the Wii U for exclusive content. Here Nintendo and their partners have delivered hard and I don't think this is really all that questionable. "Of course they are going to support it with software." What's with that "of course"? I saw people being certain that Nintendo would drop support for Wii U and have Zelda U stand alone in 2015 more or less. Also to take another platform having troubles as an example Vita isn't at all in the same situation. I bought it expecting same kind of 1st party support as PSP got but with the first signs of trouble Sony just wrote the whole platform claiming that their plan was creating a platform for indies and supporting PS4 all along. Needless to say I'm in no hurry to support a Sony product again. Although the point here is that Nintendo had the option to cut support for Wii U back when they saw it was never going to be a succesful platform but they didn't. They deserve all the credit for this.

Like the guy few posts above mine I have PC for 3rd party games. Even if 3rd party publishers started putting games on Wii U I wouldn't consider buying them outside of exclusives and we all know exclusives from 3rd party publishers really isn't a thing in 2014. Consoles are solely for exclusives and here Wii U delivers and neither Xbox One nor PS4 really does now or in the near future. Might be different in 2016 or 2017 though.

As for what comes to Nintendo's approach to E3 I liked it. It was a blast watching Treehouse Live and I was quite pleased with their lineup. 2 new IP's, EAD Tokyo game, sequel to Canvas Course, finally a DIY Mario game, what seems like a good port of Bayonetta 1 free with a game I was already buying and The Legend of Zelda Wii U is obviously just spectacular. Of course the previously announced games like Xenoblades Chronicles X, Bayonetta 2, Yoshi's Woolly World and Hyrule Warriors looked great too. I hope this is the direction chooses to go with in the future.

 

[JoeM86]

Look at US and UK software charts. Multiplatforms dominate. As I've said, Nintendo sell games to Nintendo fans - I've a 3DS and WiiU sat next to me

During the last fiscal year, Mario Kart Wii sold a further 1 million units. That game is 6 years old.

Just saying.

 

[DC R1D3R]

still running thing's, even from the ethereal realm.

BOSS

 

[Coolwhip]

still running thing's, even from the ethereal realm.

BOSS

I really thought he was immortal.

 

[meta4]

Utterly bored with Nintendo software.

 

[Solidsoul]

Ignore the Gamepad? So far, no big game outside of ZombiU needs the Gamepad.

The VC sucks. No argument there. I fail to see why this is relevant, outside of yes, being indicative of an overall lethargy within Nintendo.

And now you are shifting the goalposts for these new IPs again. I see.

My apologies. You are correct on the new IP, I mistakingly said there was no new IP because I found the new IP so uninteresting I wasn't even counting it in my head.

I stand by everything else I said, and too an extent still the IP's because I don't see people being compelled to purchase a system for splatoon in the way I do for sunset overdrive or blood borne. That's just my opinion.

 

[gngf123]

Utterly bored with Nintendo software.

Top quality post, would read again.

For starters, how about explaining why?

 

[neogaffer1]

I don't think they did and I can't see the WiiU doing well in 2015 at all.

Xbox One and PS4 are still going trough a period of transition where Nintendo abandoned Wii development years ago(and they are still having trouble having games consistently releasing for the WiiU).

They played to their strengths and catered to their core fan-base, while nice if you are already into Nintendo games, that helps them very little in the end.

edit: If Bayonetta or Splatoon were multiplas they wouldn't get one fifth of the attention they get here.

I agree with this, especially the bolded. Maybe not for Bayonetta (a lot of people liked the first one) but definitely for Splatoon, it really just feels like a fun XBLA/$20 Steam title. It's really starting to get Titanfall levels of hype, and while that was a good game, it got more hype than it ever should have (a bad thing not because it didn't deserve it, but because it wasn't as deep as people believed and tanked hard pretty soon after launch).

As someone who really only enjoyed the mainline Mario games (never got into Pokemon, Metroid or LoZ no matter how hard I tried) I still have no real reason to go out and get a Wii U other than maybe that Captain Toad game.

 

[Majmun]

Expand upon this point. There were a lot more shooters at the MS and Sony conferences.

Where's Nintendo's answer to Sunset Overdrive, Tomb Raider(Temple of Osiris), No Man's Sky, Batman Arkham Knight, GTA V, Uncharted, Inside, Ori, TLOU, Planetscape 2, The Crew, Driveclub, Mortal Konbat X, Mirror's Edge 2, Mass Effect etc etc

Sony and MS just have more games to offer. That's a fact. Their library is huge and offers more diversity.

 

[Currygan]

Top quality post, would read again.

For starters, how about explaining why?

they're not on his Playstation

 

[AvoidDaNoid]

You wouldn't, as long as you don't want to play anything from anyone but Nintendo and a small cadre of indies. And I suppose, Bayonetta.

Think their prez was great. But let's see if they moved the needle at all. Right now the Wii U is at best a supplementary console.

Funny because I consider the other consoles supplementary console. I have both but honestly Xbox One and PS4 have similar games so do I really need both? Seems to me the best combination is Wii U and then picking between the XBox One or PS4 as a secondary console.

 

[Jintor]

I agree with this, especially the bolded. Maybe not for Bayonetta (a lot of people liked the first one) but definitely for Splatoon, it really just feels like a fun XBLA/$20 Steam title. It's really starting to get Titanfall levels of hype, and while that was a good game, it got more hype than it ever should have (a bad thing not because it didn't deserve it, but because it wasn't as deep as people believed and tanked hard pretty soon after launch).

I disagree heavily with Bayonetta 2, not for console wars reasons but because Bayo 1 was so widely lauded that it would be impossible to see it receiving a similar amount of attention no matter where it went.

Splatoon, had it showed up multiplatform, probably wouldn't have a first-party push behind it and thus obviously wouldn't be hyped as much. Frankly, gameplay-wise I think it looks deeper than Sunset Overdrive, but what do I know about either of those games yet.

 

[AvoidDaNoid]

I agree with this, especially the bolded. Maybe not for Bayonetta (a lot of people liked the first one) but definitely for Splatoon, it really just feels like a fun XBLA/$20 Steam title. It's really starting to get Titanfall levels of hype, and while that was a good game, it got more hype than it ever should have (a bad thing not because it didn't deserve it, but because it wasn't as deep as people believed and tanked hard pretty soon after launch).

As someone who really only enjoyed the mainline Mario games (never got into Pokemon, Metroid or LoZ no matter how hard I tried) I still have no real reason to go out and get a Wii U other than maybe that Captain Toad game.

The reason for that is because of Nintendo's track record. I admit I was disappointing when they 1st showed Splatoon but as they kept showing more and more my opinion changed and I realized that it looks really fun. Add that in with Nintendo's track record....the game looks like it will actually deliver.

 

[Nzyme32]

If you had to say someone "won" E3, to me nintendo was definitely it. I really hope their showing this year does translate into a nice boost for them. It suddenly made me seriously consider buying one, which is no small feat for me

 

[MisterHero]

I can't believe how prevalent his Nintendo fanboy reasoning is. Of course sales matter! Game development is more costly than ever before. Compared to previous gens (Gamecube/Wii) Nintendo now has to sell more at least twice as many copies of all of their games to break even and they have to do this on their worst selling console ever. Don't you see the problem there? Nintendo can't keep funding high budget games if they don't make a profit.

The more gamers pick up a Wii U, the better it is for everyone,

People are realizing this when it comes to Nintendo sales but it was pretty freaking obvious for a lot of 3rd-parties during last gen. Those gamers didn't care because they got "premium gaming experiences".

The Wii wasn't just about promoting casual gaming experiences. It was a deliberate move against rising development costs. There could've been lots of core games on Wii; the publishers just didn't come through. It's 3rd-parties' own fucking fault for not being more budget conservative.

As you can see from hardcore gamers back then and even now, they would not support such "underpowered" hardware. It would "compromise" their games, after all.

Can't disagree about your last point though.

 

[DecoyOctopus]

It [Nintendo] has addressed the gaming community directly in a way that made its rivals and their noisy live stage shows look old-fashioned and wasteful.

That's actually how I felt this year. I hope Nintendo continues the Digital Event + Treehouse format next year.

 

[mclem]

Think their prez was great. But let's see if they moved the needle at all. Right now the Wii U is at best a supplementary console.

I think the biggest boon they have is that right now the Wii U is the supplementary console. If you have one console, or a PC, then weighing up what you gain from owning another major console compared to what you gain from owning a Wii U, I think for many people the Wii U would come out on top.

 

[Wynnebeck]

Where's Nintendo's answer to Sunset Overdrive, Tomb Raider(Temple of Osiris), No Man's Sky, Batman Arkham Knight, GTA V, Uncharted, Inside, Ori, TLOU, Planetscape 2, The Crew, Driveclub, Mortal Konbat X, Mirror's Edge 2, Mass Effect etc etc

Sony and MS just have more games to offer. That's a fact. Their library is huge and offers more diversity.

But how many of those games have the Nintendo Quality Seal of Approval?

Nintendo: 1
Everyone else: -9001

 

[random25]

Welp...got ugly too fast lol.

I don't know how E3 and sales are directly related. Being best at E3 does not really mean great hardware sales. For example, Nintendo had an awesome E3 with Melee reveal and Twilight Princess reveal. Did GC skyrocketed because of that? Bad E3 also do not concide to bad hardware sales. Wii Music at E3 was bad, but did it stop the Wii from selling like hotcakes?

How hardware sales will turn out is something we cannot predict accurately. But this year's E3 proved that Nintendo is FULLY DEDICATED ON THE WII U despite what the critics and trolls say. Nintendo wants to have as much Wii U sales as they can get, just like any other business. But despite Wii U's struggles, you got to love their passion to beef up their games lineup to their install base and give fans something to look forward to to make their Wii U purchase worth it.

 

[StevieP]

Where's Nintendo's answer to Sunset Overdrive, Tomb Raider(Temple of Osiris), No Man's Sky, Batman Arkham Knight, GTA V, Uncharted, Inside, Ori, TLOU, Planetscape 2, The Crew, Driveclub, Mortal Konbat X, Mirror's Edge 2, Mass Effect etc etc

Sony and MS just have more games to offer. That's a fact. Their library is huge and offers more diversity.

What if you're not into shooting/killing or driving?

 

[Jintor]

But how many of those games have the Nintendo Quality Seal of Approval?

Nintendo: 1
Everyone else: -9001

seal of approval only ever meant it worked on their hardware without console-destroying glitches; it was never a measure of quality of game

/pedantic

What if you're not into shooting/killing or driving?

Littlebigplanet and a shittonne of indie games. I wonder if any of those indies showcased at Sony/Microsoft will ever come to WiiU, or if the install base/dev costs will stop 'em...

 

[1000 Branches]

But how many of those games have the Nintendo Quality Seal of Approval?

Nintendo: 1
Everyone else: -9001

Really, you just seem to be making an argument no one else has even implicitly hinted towards just for the hell of it now.

 

[sörine]

Where's Nintendo's answer to Sunset Overdrive, Tomb Raider(Temple of Osiris), No Man's Sky, Batman Arkham Knight, GTA V, Uncharted, Inside, Ori, TLOU, Planetscape 2, The Crew, Driveclub, Mortal Konbat X, Mirror's Edge 2, Mass Effect etc etc

Sony and MS just have more games to offer. That's a fact. Their library is huge and offers more diversity.

I guess Listwars won E3.

 

[BBboy20]

Where they lacked in spectacle they made up in actual gameplay. Which, at a show about games, is always nice.

The gameplay was the spectacle.

 

[Jintor]

Really, you just seem to be making an argument no one else has even implicitly hinted towards just for the hell of it now.

well, he's just kidding really

 

[gogogow]

But how many of those games have the Nintendo Quality Seal of Approval?

Nintendo: 1
Everyone else: -9001

Such wit. Much funny.

 

[Phoenician_Viking]

Eurogamer: Nintendo Wins E3 On Its Own Terms

You can´t win E3 by showing of third of games that your competitors showed. As for Treehouse, it was good, but it was not the first time a company put dev interviews, gameplay videos on Youtube.

 

[AvoidDaNoid]

Where's Nintendo's answer to Sunset Overdrive, Tomb Raider(Temple of Osiris), No Man's Sky, Batman Arkham Knight, GTA V, Uncharted, Inside, Ori, TLOU, Planetscape 2, The Crew, Driveclub, Mortal Konbat X, Mirror's Edge 2, Mass Effect etc etc

Sony and MS just have more games to offer. That's a fact. Their library is huge and offers more diversity.

Where is Sony's answer to Xenoblade, Pikmin 3, Mario World 3D, Mario Kart, Bayonetta 2, Splatoon, ZombiU, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Zelda U, The Wonderful 101, Monster Hunter 3, Zelda Wind Waker, NSMB, Smash Bros, Hyrule Warriors, Captain Toad, Star Fox, Metroid (it's coming...believe) Kirby (Canvas sequel), Yoshi Woolly World etc

 

[GameGuru59]

Where's Nintendo's answer to Sunset Overdrive, Tomb Raider(Temple of Osiris), No Man's Sky, Batman Arkham Knight, GTA V, Uncharted, Inside, Ori, TLOU, Planetscape 2, The Crew, Driveclub, Mortal Konbat X, Mirror's Edge 2, Mass Effect etc etc

Sony and MS just have more games to offer. That's a fact. Their library is huge and offers more diversity.

Their response is to not make those games in that saturated market.

 

[JoeM86]

You can´t win E3 by showing of third of games that your competitors showed. As for Treehouse, it was good, but it was not the first time a company put dev interviews, gameplay videos on Youtube.

And how many of what the others showed were multiplatform? A vast majority.

Everything Nintendo showed in their Digital Event was first party developed or funded.

Also, quality not quantity. Not saying the others are bad, I like a fair few of them, but you can't signify success in pure volume of games shown.

 

[Majmun]

What if you're not into shooting/killing or driving?

Then it's time to find a different hobby.

 

[Nightengale]

Hyrule Warriors

Technically, Sony has several answers to Hyrule Warriors... =P

 

[DecoyOctopus]

Where's Nintendo's answer to Sunset Overdrive, Tomb Raider(Temple of Osiris), No Man's Sky, Batman Arkham Knight, GTA V, Uncharted, Inside, Ori, TLOU, Planetscape 2, The Crew, Driveclub, Mortal Konbat X, Mirror's Edge 2, Mass Effect etc etc

Sony and MS just have more games to offer. That's a fact. Their library is huge and offers more diversity.

...maybe Nintendo doesn't need an answer to those games?

 

[The Adder]

In regards to 3rd party support, I don't know what people expect them to do.

They had the 2nd most powerful console of a generation, poorer 3rd party support relative to previous generation.

They had the best selling console of a generation, poorer 3rd party support relative to the previous generation.

They paid for UE licensing. They offered to double whatever EA put up to advertise their games. They gave 3rd parties large swathes of their E3 coverage. Poorer 3rd party support relative to previous generation.

They are being held to a standard no other console manufacturer is and unless they do everything exactly the way 3rd parties want them to, they get ignored and shit on. And I think they are aware of this.

I just wish they'd make more teams and ramp their own production.

 

[Hugstable]

Their coverage of E3 was one of the best and somethkng other companies should adopt. I do love the big stage presentations still though.

My only problem with this winning E3 stuff is that they didn't show a single 3rd party game coming to Wii U.

Isn't Devil's Third 3rd party? They atleast showed 1! Still a great E3 for me though as my Wii U is pretty much all for exclusives since I also got a PC and PS4 for any third party games. I really enjoyed the Treehouse format and wouldn't mind seeing it spread across to the other companies for their E3 presentations. Then again if everyone starts doing this, then everyone is gonna be having 8 hour streams going on at the same time.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Because Wii U isn't continuing to get great games?

So many great games are skipping over Wii U regardless of "winning" E3. Sales matter more than game journalist chatter at a game conference.

Heh, I laughed when you were chattering away in the Digital Event thread, and I'll laugh now.

 

[Currygan]

Then it's time to find a different hobby.

or buy a WiiU, man, that was simple